There are plenty of great articles and tips out there that can give you ideas about how to think yourself thin by meditating and so on. I want to come at this a little differently, so stick with me!
Do You Ever Talk to Yourself?
(If you’re asking yourself that now, then yes you do!).
If you are anything like me, you talk to yourself all the time. “Wow that’s a nice car, I’d love to have one of those” or “Damn, I forgot to pay my credit card, what an idiot” or “I feel fat today“. Whatever it is that you say to yourself, 3 out of the 4 times you are knocking yourself, somebody or something.
Studies show that 75% of all of that self-talk is negative self-talk. 75%? And we wonder why we walk around angry and irritable. We are constantly beating ourselves up and typically for no good reason.
The Power of Thought
Our thoughts have a huge effect on our attitude, health, outward appearance and actions
E+R=O
This one is from Jack Canfield, a highly respected and successful motivational speaker. He explains that Events + Responses = Outcomes. For example, if you wake up on a Monday and say “Here we go again, another Monday”, odds are it will be just another Monday.
But if you wake up, smile, tell yourself “I am going to have a great day. I am going to have a positive impact on three people’s lives today. I’m going to train and eat healthy” and then take action on those goals, I’m guessing your Monday doesn’t become a miserable chore, but a productive and enjoyable day.
You have an event that you cannot control, you respond to it and that response is the outcome, as it relates to your life.
It’s up to you!
Imagine somebody tells you that you are good for nothing, piece of crap. Do you think this will build up or rip down your confidence and self-esteem?
The answer is neither. It is how you respond to that comment that will determine your confidence or self-esteem. It’s not about what the person says, it’s about what you say to yourself. Do you believe what that person is saying or do you know and believe something different of yourself? That is the key.
What do you see in the mirror?
If you want to lose weight and look in the mirror and see or visualize an overweight, unhealthy person, I bet that your decisions, pantry and fridge reflect that person you are seeing. On the other hand, if you have set specific goals, visualize and feel how you will feel when you reach that goal, you will see a different person in the mirror.
You will see a lean, healthy, athletic specimen and your lifestyle choices will prove that you are thinking and acting in line with your vision or goal.
How do I think myself fit?
In order to think yourself fit you must also take action. You must:
1 – Set specific goals with a deadline: If you want to lose weight, you could cut off an arm. Not very effective, but it is weight loss. How will you lose that weight? Think of any activity, project, event that you have participated in and that you have succeeded.
You first had a vision/dream/goal. You must use this vision, dream or goal and see it, feel it and think it every day. Write it down so you see it daily.
2 – Deeply commit to those goals: You must wholeheartedly commit to your dreams. You must make conscious decisions every day that align with that goal. If the foods, activities or people you spend time with don’t align with those goals, avoid them at all costs. Negativity breeds negativity.
3 – Anticipate failure: You must understand that there will be bumps in the road, so anticipate the knock backs and accept them as part of the process.
4 – Persevere: When you do hit that bump in the road or wall, change direction, re-calibrate or just knock the wall down and keep moving.
5 – Trust the process: If you know that in your heart that you are doing the right things to get the results you desire, trust that they will come. Maybe not yet, but they will come.
6 – Keep taking action: You must never, ever, ever give up. Keep moving forward. Even if you take imperfect action, it is action. You can change your approach as you go.
Just having an intellectual understanding of your goal isn’t enough. You must vividly visualize accomplishing this goal over and over and over again, so that it is so clear, bright and burned into your mind that it will have no choice but to become reality.
This positive thinking is the same technique the Wright Brothers and Thomas Edison used. When everyone thought they couldn’t do it, when everyone thought they were crazy and that technology was decades away, they held the vision of their dream and didn’t stop until that dream was realized. You must do the same.
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